Manchester Monarchs goalie Martin Jones poke checks St. John's Icecaps Kyle MacKinnon during the first period of the AHL game at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester Saturday.Mark Bolton/Union Leader (Mark Bolton/Union Leader)

Monarchs sink IceCaps, 5-3

The Manchester Monarchs held off a St. John's comeback bid for a 5-3 win at Verizon Wireless Arena Saturday afternoon.

The Monarchs are now 6-1-3 for 15 points, most in the AHL. St. John's fell to 3-4-1.

.The Monarchs play at Providence Friday night before returning home to host the Bruins in the back half of a home-and-home Saturday at 7 p.m. for Canadian Heritage Night.

Manchester led 4-0 after two periods, but the IceCaps began to climb back into the game 1:59 into the final frame when Brenden Kichton's wraparound beat Martin Jones to make it 4-1...Andrew Gordon tipped home a shot from Londonderry's Ian O'Connor at 3:32 and Kael Mouillierat's power-play goal at 5:43 made it a game at 4-3.

But Tanner Pearson scored at 17:38 to give Manchester some breathing room and the Monarchs closed out the win...Rookie Nick Shore scored his first pro goal at 1:37 of the second period to give Manchester a 1-0 lead and start a four-goal barrage.

Linden Vey sandwiched a power-play goal around two Tyler Toffoli scores and the Monarchs led 4-0...